BP BHEAD INT S [atlas:bill]

TO THE HONORABLE WILLIAM J. CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED:

We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:

WHEREAS, The Supreme Court has regarded the right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children as a fundamental right implicit in the concept of ordered liberty within the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution, as specified in Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390 [1923], and Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510 [1925]; and

WHEREAS, The role of parents in the raising and rearing of their children is of inestimable value and deserving of both praise and protection by all levels of government; and

WHEREAS, The tradition of western civilization recognizes that parents have the responsibility to love, nurture, train, and protect their children; and

WHEREAS, Some decisions of federal and state courts have treated the right of parents not as a fundamental right but as a nonfundamental right, resulting in an improper standard of judicial review being applied to government conduct that adversely affects parental rights and prerogatives; and

WHEREAS, Parents face increasing intrusions into their legitimate decisions and prerogatives by government agencies in situations that do not involve traditional understandings of abuse or neglect but simply are a conflict of parenting philosophies; and

WHEREAS, Governments should not interfere in the decisions and actions of parents without compelling justification; and

WHEREAS, The traditional four-step process used by courts to evaluate cases concerning the right of parents described in the first paragraph of this resolution appropriately balances the interests of parents, children, and government;

NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that the Congress pass and the President sign into law legislation to:

(1) Protect the right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children as a fundamental right;

(2) Protect children from abuse and neglect as the terms have been traditionally defined and applied in state law, such protection being a compelling government interest;

(3) While protecting the rights of parents, acknowledge that the rights involve responsibilities and specifically that parents have the responsibility to see that their children are educated, for the purposes of literacy and self-sufficiency, as specified by the Supreme Court in Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205 [1972];

(4) Preserve the common law tradition that allows parental choices to prevail in a health care decision for a child unless, by neglect or refusal, the parental decision will result in danger to the life of the child or result in serious physical injury to the child;

(5) Fix a standard of judicial review for parental rights, leaving to the courts the application of the rights in particular cases based on the facts of the cases and law as applied to the facts; and

(6) Reestablish a four-step process to evaluate cases concerning the right of parents described in the first paragraph of this resolution that:

(a) Requires a parent to initially demonstrate that:

(i) The action in question arises from the right of the parent to direct the upbringing of a child; and

(ii) A government has interfered with or usurped the right; and

(b) Shifts the burdens of production and persuasion to the government to demonstrate that:

(i) The interference or usurpation is essential to accomplish a compelling governmental interest; and

(ii) The method of intervention or usurpation used by the government is the least-restrictive means of accomplishing the compelling interest.

BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable William J. Clinton, President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.